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On the heels of my thread about countries that were NOT worth the high price (where I nominated Israel as my #1), let's go in the opposite direction... what travel destinations have you been to where your money went farther, perhaps even more than expected?
I'll throw Albania out as my #1. I knew SE Europe is a lot cheaper than western Europe but wasn't expecting how cheaply one can travel in Albania. We track daily expenses pretty closely while traveling and Albania weighs in at about the same cost as countries in SE Asia like Thailand and Myanmar.
Donner kebab at a local joint is 150 lek (USD $1.26) and a nice big salad with feta cheese for 250 lek (USD $2.10). A large can of beer at a grocery store is 80 lek ($0.67) while a Heineken at a restaurant is 250 lek. A meal at a more touristy place like Mexican or Italian is about USD $4-$7. We took local buses for 40 lek each, hell even the long cable car up the mountains east of Tirana is 800 lek ($6.72) round trip.
Albania has a cafe culture like other countries in the region, there are a million cafes that all times of days are packed with locals sipping coffee from cups the size of thimbles. Great for people watching. There is lots of natural beauty both from mountains and along the coast to the west, and some cool museums related to their communist past with the collaborators and secret police.
It would also make for an interesting retirement destination since Americans can stay one year at a time visa free. It's my understanding lots of Italians retire in Albania because just a ferry ride away plus similar culture and weather.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Nearby NE Italy was surprising cheap. Groceries (shopping at co-op market) and farm stand were really inexpensive.
One of our International trade school / camps has asked us to come to Albania for a semester, so room and board will be free. Looking forward to that location.
Maybe this is just through the eyes of a New Yorker, but Peru is unbelievably cheap. In particular the taxis and the Ubers. A taxi ride most of the time will cost just 2-3 USD. The abundance of taxis everywhere means that getting around is extremely easy, just call up an uber or hail a marked taxi off the street. In comparison with New York, taxis are legit 1/10th of the price there
Street markets in Lima offer deals where you can get a ton of food for 10 soles (3 USD). In other cities of Peru it´s even cheaper, in Arequipa if you eat empanadas you can easily fill up for just a dollar. From what Ive heard, jungle cities in Peru are even cheaper, have to see for myself
The average pint of beer was around 35 czech crown (which isn't even $1.5) and that was in a touristy area. You can even buy beer at the zoo for that price.
Compared to what it was a couple of years ago and how it is still in the Czech countryside, Prague is quite expensive. Eastern Europe used to be like 0.5$ for a 0.5l Beer, something like that. You will still find it in less crowded and touristic areas but cheaper than CZK30 is rare in Prague.
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